


The Lotus and the Bull

by talesofadragon



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Angst, Corrin isnt a queen, F/M, Fluff, for fun for me, no one died during fates, not really after any of the paths of fates, some couples used the deeprealms, some did not have kids during the war, sort of an au honestly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2020-03-13 20:05:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18947908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talesofadragon/pseuds/talesofadragon
Summary: A forgotten Kingdom has made it's rise again. New enemies have shown themselves on the borders of Nohr and Hoshido. A mysterious woman makes herself known. The Lotus and the Bull; a legend that seems to have come to fruition. The sake of both Kingdom's seems to be safe for now, but for how long? Who is this new enemy? What do they want? Who is this mysterious woman and what is her relation with this forgotten Kingdom?





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boom! another Canon/OC story from me lmao not surprising! As with the rest of my Canon/OC stories, these are for my entertainment and i will not accept any negative comments on these. uhhhh ok enjoy like i do!

The wind gently blew through the streets of the Hoshido capital one beautiful, warm day. The streets were packed with Hoshidos and Nohrians alike, shopping, eating and enjoying each other’s company. The animals that were native to Hoshido happily roamed the streets (or the air) searching for food, entertainment or companionship. Even King Ryoma, and his retainers Saizo and Kagero walked through the streets greeting the people that they passed. Well, Saizo followed in the shadows as best as he could since he wasn’t the sort to socialize. But, he would simply nod every time he accidently locked eyes with someone. That was a start at least.

“Look out below!”

 

Ryoma’s gaze darted upwards just in time to see his sister, Hinoka, gracefully falling to the ground. She landed on her feet in a crouching position, then stood straight up with both hands in the air. 

“Perfect landing!” Hinoka beamed.

Ryoma sighed and shook his head. “Hinoka, what have I told you about jumping from your Pegasus into the middle of busy streets?”

Hinoka scoffed and waved her hand dismissively at him. “I know what I’m doing. I’m not going to hurt anyone.”

“Hinoka!”

“Mother!”

From down the busy street, King Xander and Prince Siegbert came barreling through the crowd, completely out of breath. They apologized to everyone they crashed into. Peri and Laslow were not so hurried. They were both eating some chicken on a stick type of street food. Xander and Siegbert came to a halt right beside Hinoka and bent over on their knees from exhaustion.

“Hinoka... my Queen... w-we cannot p-possibly... keep up with y-you while you’re on your p-pegasus...,” Xander wheezed as he tried to catch his breath.

 “Oh! Sorry about that, Xander! Siegbert!” Hinoka laughed. “I was just so excited to see my siblings!”

Xander stood up straight, dusted himself off and reorganized himself to look more proper to represent Nohr. “Yes… well… I too am glad we get to see everyone after months of busying ourselves with governmental issues, but we also came here with some important information.”

Saizo popped out from the shadows to stand beside his Lord, giving Xander a visible mini heart attack. “My apologies....” Saizo mumbled.

“It’s quite alright, Saizo,” Xander said. “I’m still not used to it, but I will be one day.”

“Hey! Saizo!” Laslow exclaimed, slapping the red ninja on the back, making him lose his balance for just a second. “I was wondering when you were going to pop out of the shadows!”

Ryoma cleared his throat, making the two retainers (well, Laslow) shut up and pay attention to what he had to say. “What important information do you wish to speak of, King Xander?”

“If we may speak in a more... private setting with all the Royal family and retainers, that would be more suitable. It is a matter that-,” His voice became low so not to let any of the citizens around them hear. “I do not wish to speak about in public and cause distress.”

“Very well,” Ryoma nodded and turned to both Saizo and Kagero. “Find everyone and tell them we shall hold a meeting in the war chamber immediately as per King Ryoma’s and King Xander’s urgent request.”

They both bowed their heads and in unison said, “Yes, Lord Ryoma.” And literally ‘poofed’ into a smoke cloud and disappeared.

“I will never understand how they do that no matter how many times Kaze explains it to me,” Laslow stood in awe at the puff of smokes where the two ninjas once stood.

“Can’t you think about something other than ninja tricks for once?” Peri snarled, taking the last bite of her chicken as well as stealing Laslow’s last bite.

“Hey!”

“Quiet you two,” Xander groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Ryoma grinned in amusement and motioned toward the castle. “Shall we?”

Xander nodded and walked side by side Ryoma with Hinoka and Siegbert following behind and Laslow and Peri taking the way back.

“My siblings Camilla, Leo and Elise should be in the city as well,” Xander said. “They took off once we reached the city gates, but hopefully they will make their way to the castle shortly.”

“If not, I can have Saizo find them,” Ryoma said. “He’s my go-to retainer for when I need to find someone quickly.”

“How’s Azama doing?” Hinoka asked. “Since... well, I see Setsuna almost every day, but don’t hear much from Azama.”

“He’s doing fine. He didn’t want to retire so I reassigned him to be Kiragi’s retainer.”

“That puts me at so much ease,” Hinoka sighed. “I was afraid that he wouldn’t know what to do with himself once Setsuna and I moved to Nohr officially. I mean, I know he has his family, but I was still worried.”

“He was upset for a while,” Ryoma said. “But he understood why. He was more disappointed when Felicia moved to Nohr and Jakob stayed in Hoshido with Kagero.”

Siegbert and Xander tried not to laugh while Hinoka gave a booming laugh along with Ryoma, Laslow and Peri. They all loved Jakob, they really did. It was just easy to make fun of the loyal butler. They all caught up with everything that both of the royal families have been up to for the past several months. The last time they had seen everyone was at Corrin’s and Kaze’s wedding which had been held right after the war between the two Kingdom’s. It was a nice way of letting both of the Kingdom’s know that they were now in a time of peace and there would be no more warring with each other.

Upon reaching the main entrance to the castle, Saizo ‘poofed’ from a bunch of smoke in front of the group and knelt before them. “Everyone is waiting in the war chamber as you requested.”

“Are the Nohrian Royals in there as well?” Ryoma asked.

“Yes, my Lord.”

“Thank you, Saizo.” Ryoma motioned for him to lead the way to the war chamber.

Just outside the war chamber, they could already hear that indeed, _everyone_ was in the war chamber. There was some bickering to be heard, mainly from Leo and Takumi, but everyone else seemed to be enjoying catching up with one another. There was a bit of... barking too, but that was to be expected since Sakura’s husband Kaden and their daughter Selkie were in there as well. Saizo opened both grand doors and everyone immediately quieted down, seeing as though their Kings were coming through the doorway. Even though they were siblings, they realized that they still had to be respectful. Ryoma sat down at one end of the meeting table with his wife Orochi to his right and his son Shiro to his left. Xander sat at the other end of the table with Hinoka to his left and son to his right. On the left side of the table were all the Hoshidan Royals, children and their partners unless they were a retainer. On the right was all the Nohrian Royals, children and their partners unless their partners were retainers. The retainers stood behind their appointed Lord or Lady.

Xander looked around to everyone just to make sure everyone was in fact here. He trusted Saizo, but he wanted to make sure with his own two eyes. He nodded to everyone and started, “I’m glad to see everyone looking well rested and relaxed. I would usually start these meetings off with going around to everyone to give reports but I’ll just cut right to the chase.  I do not know about Hoshido, but Nohrian villages, towns, and even the capital has been completely surrounded by an unknown army.”

“An... unknown army?” Ryoma asked, eyebrow slightly arched and head cocked to the side.

Xander nodded. “The people were not of Nohr or Hoshido. That was easy to see. Their weapons and armor weren’t made from any material that you would see in either Kingdoms.”

“Did they attack you right away?” Corrin pipped up with the question.

Xander shook his head. “No. They... they didn’t seem like they were even going to attack in the first place. They were just standing at attention right at our walls.”

“Camilla and myself went to confront them,” Leo chimed in. “When we asked them to state where they were from, they didn’t answer. When we asked whom they serve, there was still no answer.”

“The look in their eyes...,” Camilla hummed. “It was almost like they were mindless. Soulless. It was horrifying.”

“I couldn’t have an unknown army scaring my citizens,” Xander said. “I made the decision for a few of my men led by Leo to escort them away from the perimeter; giving them permission to use force if necessary.”

“Once we approached them,” Leo said. “It was like a switch had been turned on. They were aggressive. It was as if they didn’t want to leave.... No, correction. It was like they weren’t _supposed_ to leave.” Leo shook his head. “We attacked and our weapons and magic did nothing.”

“Absolutely nothing?” Takumi asked.

“Absolutely nothing,” Leo repeated.

“But, the magic from Nohr is supposedly the most powerful out of both Kingdoms,” Corrin said. “How is that possible?”

Leo shook his head again. “I am not sure. I thought that it only deflected weaker magic since there are enchantments to deflect weaker magic, but even my magic didn’t do anything. Niles’ arrows did nothing as well. Niles even tried to hit them in the face since that was the only part of them that wasn’t covered by anything, and still, the arrows just either bounced off or fell to the ground once in the proximity of the target. We lost... quite a few men.”

“But then a hooded lady came and saved the day!” Elise cheered with her usual big smile.

“Elise,” Xander grunted.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Elise mumbled, shifting uncomfortably in her seat and then repeated, “But then a hooded lady came and saved the day,” in a more calming tone of voice.

“Lady?” Leo’s brows rose. “How did you know that the hooded person was a lady?”

“Well, her voice didn’t sound like a man’s,” Elise said. “And she had... uhm, knockers.”

“WHAT?!” Camilla boomed, jumping out of her seat. “WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!”

“Is that not what people call them?” Elise questioned. A few people, even Xander and Ryoma, tried to hold in their laughter. “Niles calls them knockers so I just-.”

“NILES, YOU ARE TO GO NO WHERE NEAR MY DARLING SISTER!” Camilla snarled. Thankfully, she didn’t have her axe on her cause surely, Niles would have been dead at that moment.

Niles nodded and gave an uncomfortable cough. “Yes, Lady Camilla.”

“ _Anyway_ ,” Xander said, breaking the tension. “A hooded woman did indeed come and kill every single soldier on the field.”

“Wait,” Takumi broke in. “You couldn’t even touch them, but some stranger was able to kill them all?”

“Interesting,” Ryoma hummed. “She must know how to break through the deflection.”

“That’s what we think. She didn’t really stick around to explain much to us,” Xander said.

“She did say that the soldiers were just scouters. They weren’t there to hurt us unless we showed any sign of aggression first,” Leo said. “Which, indeed we had done. I asked her a couple of other questions, but she didn’t answer. She just left, but before that, she did give us some sort of warning.”

“Which was?” Ryoma asked.

Xander closed his eyes gently and repeated the hooded woman’s words, “Do not get yourself involved in this situation. This war is not yours to handle.”

“A war, huh?”  Ryoma sighed, leaning back in his chair.

“We don’t know what she speaks of,” Xander explained. “But, I thought it would be nice to give you a warning of what might come your way eventually, and Elise thought that you might know of this hooded woman.”

Ryoma cocked an eyebrow. “Why do you think we would know of this woman?”

“Cause she wore one of those thick scarves!” Elise said, pointing at Saizo’s scarf around his neck. “A red one! Only ninjas wear them and ninjas only appear in Hoshido!”

“So, you’re thinking she’s a Hoshido Ninja?” Kagero asked.

Elise nodded her head frantically. “Although, I don’t remember ninjas being able to use magic.”

“We cannot. We are not trained for such things,” Saizo informed the young princess.

“There goes the Hoshido Ninja theory,” Corrin said.

“My Lord, if I may.” Niles stepped up to the table and waited for the attention from everyone before speaking again. “After this event, I took it upon myself to do some research of my own.”

“You _can_ do something useful. I’m impressed,” Camilla scoffed, which Niles completely ignored.

“I couldn’t find anything on the hooded woman I’m afraid,” Niles apologized. “But I did find out somethings pertaining to the unknown army.”

“Excellent work Niles,” Leo grinned. “What did you find out?”

“The army is from a faraway Kingdom known as Adonia.”

“Adonia....” Ryoma hummed in thought. “I’ve heard of it, but never have met anyone from that part of the continent. It’s said to be even more beautiful than Hoshido.”

Niles nodded. “It was at one point. Apparently now, it’s a wasteland. According to my sources, everything died a couple of years ago. The trees, the grass, the flowers, even the harvest. Nothing has been able to grow there. Then, everyone in the Kingdom just vanished.”

“Well, they didn’t have anything left, so of course they died,” Takumi said, rolling his eyes.

“No. They didn’t die,” Niles corrected. “They completely vanished. Disappeared into thin air. Even the King and Queen disappeared.”

“That... that is strange. I’ve never heard of an occurrence like that happening,” Hinoka said.

“For the army of a Kingdom that disappeared to suddenly appear at our borders is stranger,” Ryoma said. “And, most likely, dangerous for us.”

“Excuse me, my Lord,” A servant of the Hoshido Royal Family had opened the door and stuck only her head into the war chamber. “My apologies for interrupting your meeting, but one of the perimeter guards has informed me of an unknown army standing at the capitals borders.”

“They’re here? Already?” Xander breathed in a troubled breath.

Ryoma got up from his chair and started for the door, barking orders as he took stride to the exit. “Everyone, to the perimeter now. Make sure to keep your weapons away unless they show signs of hostility.”

Everyone departed quickly to the borders of the Hoshido capital with Ryoma and Xander leading the way. Just as Xander had said, there the unknown army stood at attention on the capital borders. Their armor was a bright blue that glistened in the sunlight. Their weapons matched. There were no signs of a general or a leader of any kind. They looked to be all the same ranking. As the group got closer, they could see the dullness in the soldiers eyes as if they didn’t have a will of their own. It certainly was terrifying, but nothing they hadn’t quite seen before. Takumi shuddered at the sight. His wife, Azura, putting a gentle hand on his arm to calm him. Their son’s Kiragi and Shigure each putting a hand on his shoulder to help.

“Reports?” Ryoma asked a guard once they had gotten close enough to the border.

“They’re just... standing there,” The guard said. “We keep asking them what they’re doing here and where they’re from, but we keep getting silence. It’s... it’s creeping us all out, my Lord.”

“It is, indeed, creepy,” Ryoma said. He took a confident step towards the army and with a loud, booming voice, said, “I am King Ryoma of Hoshido. I have been informed that you are the army of a Kingdom known as Adonia.” _That_ got some interesting looks out of some of the Adonia soldiers. “I demand to know why you are beyond your own borders.”

Although, Ryoma had gotten some looks of interest out of the soldiers, no one answered.  The soldiers who had given the curious looks went back to standing at attention. Ryoma scowled at the groups.

“Tell me why you are here or you will promptly remove yourself from Hoshido borders!” Ryoma barked at them, but still, nothing was said. Ryoma mumbled a few choice words under his breath, then sighed. “How can we get them to leave without using force?”

Just then, a rouge arrow hit one of the Adonia soldiers in the arm. Well, it didn’t exactly hit. Once it was a few inches away from the soldier, it stopped in the air and swiftly fell to the ground.

“Hold your fire soldier!” Ryoma scolded the archer guard who shrank back.

“S-sorry! I-It s-slipped out of my h-hands,” The guard stuttered his apology.

The Adonia soldier looked down at the arrow and then back to the guard with disdain. The guard’s body shook as the soldier got into position to attack.

“No! Stop!” Corrin yelled. The soldier darted forward, not listening to a word the princess said.

Corrin unsheathed her Yato and charged forward after the soldier to stop him from attacking the guard. Corrin jumped and slashed at the soldier, making him stop, but of course Corrin didn’t even put a dent into his armor. The soldier stared down Corrin with wild, beast like eyes and slashed at her with his own sword. He ripped her armor from her left hip up to her left shoulder and threw her back at the Royal group.

“Corrin!” Kaze threw a couple of his daggers at the soldier to distract him long enough for him to come to Corrin’s side and examine her. Her armor was completely torn in half, but there was little to no blood and she didn’t seem to be hurt in any other way. “Are you alright, Corrin?”

“I-I’m fine, Kaze,” Corrin muttered, hoisting herself up with Kaze’s help. “He just caught me by surprise.”

“Ngggaaahhh!” The soldier roared and bolted towards the two in a rage.

Kaze took a stance in front of Corrin, ready to die for his wife, but the soldier stopped just short of his sword being able to reach Kaze’s chest. The soldier dropped his sword, rattling as it hit the ground and his arm dropped to the side of his body. He groaned. Foamy blood started to poor from his mouth as he fell to his knees and then completely on to the ground. Looking over the dead soldier’s body, Kaze found three daggers piercing the back of his head, neck and upper back.

“Look! Look! It’s the hooded Lady!” Elise beamed, pointing towards the forest area where a hooded figure stood just beneath the first couple of trees.

The hooded Lady took a few steps from under the trees into the sunlight. The Adonian soldiers looked over to the hooded figure and were immediately threatened by her presence. They all turned their attention to her, readied their weapons and went straight for her. The lady’s right arm crossed over her chest towards her shoulder. A quiet, gentle wind picked up around her and as she outstretched her hand towards the onslaught of soldiers, there was a flash and from behind her came hundreds of lightning bolts that went straight into the soldiers chests. Once hit, they immediately stopped their assault and fell to the ground in a heap. The flashing of the bolts were so bright that most of the two Kingdoms had to shield their eyes. Once they opened them back up, every single Adonian soldier was lying on the ground. Completely void of life.

“Tch,” The hooded figure snarled, looking over at the group. “I hadn’t expected Hoshidans to be so irresponsible as to just attack strangers who weren’t doing anything.” The hooded figure scanned the group and scoffed again. “Especially since I see the Nohrians are here who probably have warned you about this situation.”

“And what situation might this be?” Kaze asked, who was now clinging on to Corrin.

The hooded Lady stayed silent for a moment, letting it be known that she wasn’t about to answer that. “I’m sure the Nohrians have already warned you, but I’ll repeat it once more.” She took a step forward, pointing a finger at them all. “Do not get yourself involved in this situation. This war is not yours to handle.”

The hooded Lady turned to leave, but Ryoma wasn’t having any of that. “I am King Ryoma of Hoshido. I demand to know of this situation or war that you speak of so that I can protect my people accordingly!”

She didn’t show any signs of stopping in the slightest. Ryoma frowned deeply and unsheathed his sword. Seeing this, Takumi raised his bow, ready to fire and this in turn caused a ripple effect throughout the Nohrians and Hoshidans.

“Stop! In the name of the Kingdoms Hoshido and Nohr, I demand that you halt and explain yourself!”

That seemed to do the trick. The hooded Lady froze in place. She slowly turned towards the group, but then extended two fingers at them that sent small, pea sized flares at them. The flares hit the handles of the royal families and some of the retainers weapons, making them extremely hot. All of them who had been hit dropped their weapons quickly and gripped their hands in discomfort. This would have been a warning to most, but to Saizo, it was a threat to his Lord.

The red ninja bolted forth, ready to slash at where he thought the hooded figures throat would be. Just as he got close, he vanished, leaving behind a smoke cloud. However, the lady didn’t even flinch. Saizo reappeared behind her, going in for the kill when she side stepped and pushed his foot ever so slightly with her own, causing the ninja to become unbalanced. His eye widened in shock and surprise at the lady’s ability to sense where he had appeared. Saizo fell flat on his face, but quickly rolled over on to his back to give a one, two with a couple of daggers. He didn’t have a chance, however as the lady put her boot on his chest with all her weight on to it, pinning him to the ground. Two daggers appeared from her sleeve and they were thrown at Saizo, only to stick into the ground on either side of his head.

“I am not here to harm any of you, Saizo the fifth,” The hooded Lady grumbled. “But, I will do what I must to stop you from getting in my way.” Her boot came off his chest and she stormed off into the forest.

Saizo growled at the sudden turn of events. He put his hands flat on the ground above her shoulders and jumped up from where he lay, glaring into the forest where the lady had gone.

“Well, that was quite an experience,” Oboro said.

Orochi giggled and wagged a finger in the air. “I’ve never seen that look of utter shock and confusion on Saizo’s face in my life! She really turned the tables on you, Saizo!”

“Shut up!” Saizo howled, his hands forming tight fists.

Kaze stepped up next to his brother, putting a hand on his shoulder in order to calm Saizo a bit, and asked in a nice, low tone but loud enough for everyone to hear, “I’m not sure myself, but did you recognize her voice?”

Saizo took a breath to relax, which didn’t do the trick but did help him recompose himself, then shook his head. “No. I have never heard that voice in my life. Although, that scarf is one I do recognize. Well, sort of anyway.”

“So, it is a ninja scarf!” Elise and Sakura said in unison and Saizo nodded.

“However, I can’t place to whom it was originally bestowed upon in the village.”

“Well, I can tell you all one thing,” Leo started. “If this hooded lady isn’t going to reveal anything to us, then I think we should take matters into our own hands and figure this out.”

“I agree,” Takumi said.

“I also agree!” Corrin stated. “It’s for the good of our Kingdoms!”

Xander tugged at the minuscule hairs on his chin in thought. “She warned us that if we kept getting in her way, she would indeed harm us, but if we all stay together and fight as one, I don’t think there is any way that she could hurt us. Not even being as powerful as she is.”

Ryoma sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I agree as well. Although, I would like a little more information regarding these soldiers so that if we run into any more of them, we’ll be ready to fight against them.”

Leo strolled over to the nearest Adonian and plucked his arm guard off his body. “I will have this armor tested and researched so that we can potentially get past whatever enchantments that have been placed on them.”

“Saizo!” Ryoma called to his loyal retainer who vanished and reappeared in front of the King. “I would like for you, Kagero and Kaze to find out whatever you can on this hooded Lady. If she bares a scarf of the ninja, surely someone back in your village might have some idea as to who she is or who that scarf was originally entrusted to.”

“Yes, Lord Ryoma,” The three ninjas bowed, but only two vanished. Kaze jogged back to Corrin to give her a light kiss on the lips and to assure her that he would be back safely. Then vanished as the others had done.

“Niles,” Xander turned to the retainer. “If you can find anything else on who these Adonians are, that would be helpful.”

“Yes, Lord Xander,” Niles said.

“I-I think I can help with that,” Azura pipped up. “I have my own resources that will surely come in handy at this time.”

“We can help too!” Kaden, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, chimed in. “The Kitsune are an ancient tribe. I’m sure someone back in my village knows of the Adonians.”

“I can try back in my village as well,” Keaton nodded.

“I can see what my sister and the ice tribe know about it too!” Felicia said. “It’ll be quite a trip, but I-I think it’ll be worth it!”

At this, Leo frowned and took over the empty spot in front of Felicia. “Are you sure about this? Won’t the freezing cold weather....” He trailed off, getting flustered at everyone around him.

Felicia giggled at the sight and shook her head. “Don’t worry about us. My body has adapted to my tribe’s location.”

“Us?” Jakob repeated, arching an eyebrow at the two.

“Uh....” Leo faltered, not knowing what to say. “Felicia is uh....”

It was Felicia’s turn to get all flustered now, but she ended Leo’s sentence. “Pregnant!”

“Oh my divine dragons!” Corrin squealed along with several other members of both Royal families. “Congratulations! How far along are you?”

“Only about eight weeks,” Felicia replied. “I won’t be joining you when you go out to find these Adonians, since it’ll be too dangerous, but I can still help out as much as I can beforehand!”

“We’ll be sure to have a big celebration once this whole ordeal is over!” Hinoka exclaimed.   

“Yes, well, the faster we get this research done, the sooner I can break my back with party preparations,” Jakob grunted.

“I’ll be there to help you, Father,” Dwyer pipped up finally, always ready to butt heads with his father. “My preparations will certainly out do yours.”

“Absolutely not!” Jakob growled at his son. “You still have a lot to learn from your old man!”

“Mother likes my tea more!”

Ryoma sighed, shaking his head. “I do not know how Kagero deals with this nor do I even wish to know.”

“Alright!” Felicia clapped loudly to get everyone’s attention, specifically Jakob and Dwyer’s. “I think we should get down to researching, yes? Yes! Let’s get started!”


	2. Chapter 2

“What utter _fools_ ,” She hissed from the upper branches of one of the taller trees of the forest. Looking on down the narrow pathway of the Summer Forest that lead between outer Adonia villages, she could see that they had not heeded her warning. The group consisted of the Royals, retainers and some others, but still, it was a problem.

“This is called the Summer Forest?” Elise asked with disappointment plastered on her face. “This is more like a dead forest to me.”

“As I have stated before, Lady Elise,” Niles said. “Once we have passed into Adonian territory, it will be a wasteland. There will be nothing that reminds you of neither Nohr or Hoshido.”

“We’ve been in Adonian territory for quite some time now,” Xander said. “And we have yet to encounter any Adonian soldiers.”

“Maybe they have gained knowledge of our formulated scheme and determined it would be wise as to halt at the Capital!” Odin beamed.

“I’m not too sure about that Odin,” Laslow said. “It didn’t seem like they were very smart. I don’t even think they could talk. That one that attacked Lady Corrin just roared like a wild animal.”

“Hey, did you guys ever find out why this place is a wasteland?” Elise asked, not really paying attention to the current topic.

“Mmm, I think Felicia had heard from Flora that the Kingdom is cursed,” Setsuna announced in an uncaring manner.

“C-cursed?!” Elise shrieked, making her pony grunt and walk at a faster pace.

“That’s what she said.” Setsuna shrugged. “Doesn’t make it true.”

“Don’t worry Lady Elise. Arthur and I are here to protect you from any harm that might come our way,” Elise assured her, glaring at Setsuna who just whistled, not noticing.

“It is true that this Kingdom is cursed, apparently,” Niles said, continuing the conversation that Effie had tried to break off from. “However, the curse only applies to the actual land of the Kingdom and not any of the people who lived here. That’s what my resources said.”

“My tribe said that all of the people who had disappeared had actually died and in turn became one with the land, so it seems to me that all of those soldiers are already dead,” Keaton said.

“So like zombies?!” Elise cried out, snapping Effie into a more menacing retainer.

“That is enough of this talk!” She fumed, making everyone around her shudder out of fear, however slight it may have been. “Lady Elise and everyone here are safe! That is enough!”

“Quite right,” Ryoma agreed with a slight gulp. “Saizo, Kagero, Kaze, did you find out anything about the hooded woman?”

“Unfortunately not,” Kaze said.

“There were quite a number of ninjas deployed there to serve the Adonian Royal Family but none of them returned to the village,” Kagero replied.

“Without the actual scarf in hand, the village cannot identify who the scarf had originally belonged to,” Saizo stated. “Every scarf has a unique way it’s stitched. They cannot determine based off of color alone.”

“If there were ninjas that were deployed in Adonia, do they know what had happened there?” Hinoka asked.

Kaze shook his head. “Without anyone to return or even just report to the village, there was no documentation on what had happened. The village only found out about the Kingdom when they sent scouters to see why the few ninjas here had stopped sending reports and even letters to their family.”

“There isn’t even documentation on the members of the Royal Family,” Kagero chimed in.

“Adonia was and still is a mysterious place,” Saizo mumbled, looking up the trees for anything that might be a threat to the troop. “We should be careful with how we proceed.”

“ _Adonia was and still is a mysterious place_ ,” Azama wheezed as he repeated Saizo’s words. “I’ve never heard ya’ talk like that Saizo!”

“He’s not wrong though,” Corrin pointed out. “There’s absolutely no documentation on a Kingdom who employed Ninjas from Hoshido when there should be. Barely anyone has even _heard_ of this Kingdom before. Doesn’t that seem even a tiny bit odd?”

Azama shrugged. “Perhaps.”

“Now I understand why you and Setsuna got along so well,” Saizo mumbled, rolling his eye. “You care little about anything.”

“Oh? And you care about what exactly?” Orochi snorted at the ninja. “The only thing you care about is Ryoma and maybe your honor.”

“Hey now,” Kaze scowled. “My brother cares about many other things besides Lord Ryoma and his honor. Besides, what is so wrong with a ninja thinking of his Lord as one of the most important things to protect?”

Saizo face went deep red fast and he looked away from the two of them in embarrassment. “K-Kaze, please. Th-that’s e-e-enough....” Saizo’s attention suddenly went somewhere else and he vanished, leaving behind his usual puff of smoke.

Sitting up in the high parts of the tree, watching them all interact was interesting, but when that red ninja vanished, she knew that her location had been compromised. She waited for the signs of where the ninja would reappear and once she was certain of it, she darted down the branches at high speed and over a couple of trees. Of course, Saizo was on her tail the whole time, taking every step that she took. Stepping on every branch she did. It wasn’t until she was well in front of the group that she finally leapt from the trees to the ground and spun around to face her pursuer, even though he couldn’t see her face.

“I knew I had spotted someone up high in the trees,” Saizo mumbled, wielding the blades on his forearm armor. “I commend you for being able to hide from me for as long as you did, but at the end of the day, I will always find you.”

“And I commend you for being able to keep up with me, Saizo the fifth,” The hooded Lady said with a hint of a grin in her voice.

“And just why are you spying on us?”

The woman crossed her arms over her chest tightly with a concealed scowl upon her lips. “ _I’m_ the one spying on you? This is Adonia territory. _My_ territory. I told you all not once but twice to stay out of this situation and that this war is not for you to handle, but what do you do? You just prance on into the warzone.”

“If you hadn’t been so adamant about not telling us what we wanted to know than we wouldn’t have needed to barge in on this ‘warzone’!” Leo bellowed as the rest of the group caught up to the ninja and the hooded woman.

“Yes, I’d say that was quite foolish of you to think that we would stand down and not take this into our own hands in order to keep our Kingdoms safe,” Camilla hummed with a threatening giggle at the end of her comment.

“I have my reasons for keeping things from you,” The woman growled with a hint of annoyance in her voice. “You needn’t worry about keeping your Kingdoms safe if you would have just listened to me in the first place. This is not your war.”

“And it’s yours alone?” Ryoma asked.

“Exactly.” The hooded woman turned and jumped up on to the lowest branch she could reach. “I would implore that you return to your Kingdoms immediately. It is very lucky that you haven’t run into any Adonian soldiers, but if you do not turn back and you do happen to come across them, they will definitely attack on the spot since you are strangers to _their_ territory. I cannot assure you that I will come to your rescue at that time.”

“You have a Hoshido Ninja’s scarf around that neck of yours!” Saizo yelled. “Exactly who’s is it?”

The woman touched the scarf lightly with her finger tips and concealed a soft smile, but one could definitely hear it in her answer. “Wouldn’t you like to know, Saizo.” Then she bounded away through the trees.

“Saizo!” Ryoma boomed before the ninja could dart after her. “Do not follow her. We will surely meet her again. Maybe even sooner than we think.”

Saizo mumbled a few curses under his breath, but obeyed his Lord and waited for him to pass before joining the group again. Woman and their _tricks_ and _games_. It was like that with Kagero as well when they were dating. He absolutely hated it. And how exactly did she know his name? Yes, he was King Ryoma’s retainer, but it wasn’t quite well known who exactly he was. He wasn’t a very social person, especially to ones he did not know.

“What do you think she meant?” Hinata asked the group, interrupting Saizo’s thoughts.

“By what?” Sabuki questioned with an arched brow.

“By ‘this is my territory’?” Hinata said. “Does she mean that she lived in Adonia?”

“But that would make her one of the Adonia soldiers and that doesn’t seem right since she’s obviously not like them at all,” Oboro replied.

“Maybe she moved out of the Kingdom at one point just before everything happened?” Sakura challenged.

“Or maybe she knew what was going to happen so she moved away,” Peri put in.

“But that doesn’t make sense,” Corrin said. “If she knew what was going to happen, why would she move back and try to quell the Adonian soldiers still here? Why didn’t she try and stop what was happening? Why didn’t she inform the King and Queen? Why didn’t she try to evacuate everyone? It doesn’t make sense at all.”

“Maybe...,” Odin broke in, getting the stink eye from Leo that said “speak normally for this”. “Maybe she... wasn’t affected by whatever happened at all.”

“Continue,” Leo ordered.

“Well... we all saw what she could do with magic. I’ve never seen someone who could control magic that strong. Maybe it didn’t affect her because whatever happened was caused by magic.”

“And her magic affinity was too powerful for even this magic to affect her,” Leo concluded and Odin nodded in agreement.

“So, this _is_ caused by some sort of curse,” Elise uttered, making Effie huff out of frustration.

“Most likely, yes,” Leo agreed. “But I wouldn’t worry about it, Elise.”

“Aw man, I wish Nyx was here,” Odin groaned. “She knows more about this stuff than anyone.”

“Are you sure we’re going the correct way, Niles?” Camilla questioned, rubbing her hair between her fingers to show how bored she was.

Niles mumbled something under his breath and from deep within his quiver, pulled out a really old looking map. Setsuna draped herself over her husband’s shoulder in order to examine it herself.

“The map says we’re going the correct way, Lady Camilla,” Niles assured her. “Remember, Adonia Kingdom is bigger than Nohr and Hoshido combined. We should be coming up to the village that borders the capital-.”

An arrow suddenly hooked into the map that Niles held, tore it from his hands and stuck into the nearest tree. Setsuna immediately jumped into action, taking out her bow and pulling several arrows from her quiver.

“That was rude,” Niles growled, readying his own bow. “Never attack a man that has his lady on his shoulder.”

From behind the group came a group of Adonian soldiers, ready to attack. The hooded woman had been right. The soldiers that were normally non-hostile until shown aggression were attacking right away without hesitation.

“Everyone! Get yourselves ready!” Ryoma ordered, unsheathing Raijinto. The sword glowed then sparks of lightning started to encircle the blade.

“Do you think we can take them?” Corrin asked, readying Yato. “We haven’t been able to do any kind of damage to them. Even with our divine weapons!”

“They’re going to attack whether or not we can take them,” Xander told her. His horse rearing to charge forward. “We know that we cannot do them any harm, but we can still defend ourselves.”

“And distract them!” Leo yelled, casting a spell with Odin to create a chasm in the ground to put some kind of distance between the two groups.

The soldiers stumbled back at the chasm, then reorganized themselves and leapt over the chasm. Leo and Odin were the ones to stumble back then as the soldiers that had leapt over the chasm charged at the group. As the soldiers swords came down, Laslow, Camilla, Peri, Saizo and Kaze blocked the blows with their own weapons and pushed the enemies back. The archers of the Royal group shot arrows at the enemy at random. They knew that they couldn’t hit them, but if they could stop the other soldiers from getting past the chasm, that would help. The mages of the group did the same, firing fireballs and small lightning spells to keep the enemy from jumping over the chasm.

“I’m out of arrows!” Setsuna cried.

“Shit! Me too!” Niles hissed.

Camilla whistled which echoed through the forest. “Darling! Help us out here!”

Camilla’s wyvern roared and swooped down at the soldiers behind the chasm. She landed with a growl and started to swat at the soldiers and they tried to prick at the wyvern to get past her. The wyvern took off, but not without grabbing two soldiers with her back claws and dropping them to the ground. The soldiers grunted, but got up and brushed themselves off as if nothing happened.

“Not even my Darling Winnie can hurt them!” Camilla sobbed, deflecting an arrow with her axe.

“Everyone stand back!” Ryoma warned, his blade glowing brighter and brighter with each passing second. Once everyone seemed to have gotten back, he took his sword in both hand and vertically slashed the air in front of him. Down from the heavens above came a huge bolt of lightning that hit the ground just in front of the soldiers both in front of the chasm and behind. The bolt created smoke, picked up dust and dirt into the air, making the enemies concealed to the group. As the smoke cloud dissipated, the group could see the outlines of the enemy standing in the smoke. Upon the smoke clearing fully, they could tell that the enemy had been unfazed by this attack.

“No... no, this cannot be happening!” Takumi screamed, holding his Fujin Yumi tightly in his hand.

“Why can’t we hit them?!” Corrin hollered into the wind.

“Their armor shouldn’t have any other enchantments on them besides weak ones! I don’t understand!” Leo said, looking both exhausted and disturbed by the enemies.

The soldiers got ready to charge again. Kaze quickly got in front of Corrin with Jakob by his side. Any Royals riding horses were being prepared to get away by their retainers. Any winged beast were hovering above in order for their riders to make a quick getaway. There was no chance that everyone was going to make it out of this alive.

“You should have listened to me!” Came that oh-so familiar voice.

From the skies above came huge blue sword like icicles that ripped straight through the heads all the way down their body and out through the groin, and stuck into the ground. The soldiers jolted at the impact then went limp on the icicle swords that were slowly starting to melt. Sitting on a branch just above where the archers stood sat the mysterious hooded woman with her legs and arms crossed. Her scowl obscured by her hood.

“You continued on when I specifically told you to go back! If I hadn’t come in the nick of time, most of you would’ve been dead!”

“Somehow, I knew that you wouldn’t let Adonian soldiers kill us,” Ryoma smirked.

She growled and mumbled a few choice words under her breath and looked away from the group. “Yeah, yeah. Now get going back to your Kingdoms. You are not welcomed here as you can obviously see.” Her head motioned to the dead soldiers still sticking from the ground.

“Why can’t we do any damage to them?” Takumi asked, completely ignoring her demand.

It looked as though they weren’t going to get an answer out of her again because of how silent she was, but they heard her take a breath and a wave of relief spread through them all, but that relief was cut short with what her answer was.

“You do not know how to wield your weapons correctly.”

“What?”

“Excuse me?”

Were the responses the hooded woman received but she just chuckled and gave a shrug. “You wanted an answer and I gave you the answer. It’s not my fault you don’t like it.”

“What exactly do you mean by we don’t know how to wield them correctly?” Corrin asked.

“Tch, if I tell you, you won’t ever leave this place.” She stood up from where she sat and darted across the branches, disappearing deeper into the forest.

Saizo huffed and crossed his arms over his chest as he looked on into the forest where she had gone. “It’s not like refusing to tell us is going to make us leave.”

“Correct,” Ryoma nodded. “We have to find out what’s going on. Come on! Let’s continue on!”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So i know this hasn't been update in a while lol but i was just re-reading what i have on my computer of this fic and im really proud of it honestly?? so here's the 3rd chapter

“The capital... is completely abandoned,” Hinoka whispered as they walked through the cracked streets of the Adonia capital. 

There was no one to be seen. The wind was harsh and ripped at the roofs of the buildings. There was no sign of life. No birds. No rodents. Not even one green blade of grass. There was just dirt, sand, rubble and broken glass. The buildings were crumbling and some of them had even fallen and blocked their way. In the way back of the capital, standing tall was the castle that housed the royal family. Well, used to. Some of the spires had crumbled in. A few of the rocks on a couple of the walls had fallen out almost creating another window. The stained glass, however, was intact and sparkling bright in the sunlight. 

“This place has only been a wasteland for a couple of years?” Subaki sniffed with disappointment. “It looks more like decades.”

“Yeah, this place is a mess,” Hinata agreed. 

“It looks like-.” Corrin started then shut her mouth when she realized what she was about to say was what the woman had been talking about all along.

But Jakob was sure to make her point know. “It looks like a warzone.”

“Just like the hooded lady said,” Sakura mumbled, side stepping a pile of stones. 

“Speaking of which, we haven’t seen her in the last few days,” Saizo said, making sure there was no sign of the woman they were speaking of around them. “I wonder where she ran off too.”

“Infatuated by our mysterious lady friend, Saizo?” Laslow grinned, elbowing the ninja in the ribs. 

Saizo jumped at the contact and walked a bit faster to get away from the short swordsman. He didn’t seem fazed by it other than that, but under his mask was a very slight pink hue. “Absolutely not,” The ninja muttered. “Just curious. We haven’t run into any more Adonian soldiers either. Maybe she has something to do with it.”

“Why would she be helping us if we constantly ignore her warnings and threats?” Takumi asked. 

“Maybe because she knows that we’re going to keep ignoring her,” Kaze replied. “She doesn’t want to be held responsible for the death of Nohrian and Hoshidan Royals so, she figured if we weren’t going to heed her warnings, she might as well take care of any soldiers that we would run into.”

“Maybe so, Kaze,” Ryoma nodded. “So, she was obviously bluffing when she said that she would harm us if we kept interfering.”

“Possibly,” Saizo said. “I couldn’t see her face even when I was up close to her, so I couldn’t tell if she was bluffing or not.”

“How can a simple hood darken someone’s face that much?” Elise asked, looking back from where they had come from to check if she could see her pony that she and the rest of the cavaliers had left behind. 

“A simple spell would do it,” Leo said. “Either you apply the spell to the face or you apply it to the hood so that when you put the hood on, it activates the spell and both your hair and your face are concealed.”

“Why would she want to keep her face concealed in the first place?” Elise asked again. 

“You’re a curious princess today, aren’t you?” Arthur laughed. 

“Maybe she keeps her face concealed for the same reason Saizo keeps most of his own face concealed,” Ryoma chuckled, throwing his retainer an amusing smile, but Saizo wasn’t amused and simply looked away from his Lord. 

“Maybe she’s a wanted criminal,” Takumi said, getting back to a serious conversation. “She didn’t want her face to be seen by citizens of either Kingdom, so she concealed it.”

Niles tilted his head from side to side in wonder. “Maybe, but I’ve been around Nohr a couple of times as a thief and I’ve met plenty of criminals, but none that knew that type of magic nor that had the same voice as our friend.” 

“You really can’t find anyone to teach that kind of magic in Hoshido,” Sakura chimed in. “And I don’t think a woman has been on the wanted list in Hoshido for a decade or so.”

“So, that theory’s out,” Laslow said. 

“It doesn’t really matter why she conceals her face,” Xander stated. “The fact that she’s trying to keep us from helping her in anyway is what gets me.”

“Why would that get to you, brother?” Camilla frowned at the King. “You tend to deal with most things by yourself.”

Xander shook his head. “That... that is true, yes, but I know when I need help. I know that something as big as this situation, is impossible to deal with by yourself. For her to be so insistent on doing this by herself... she must be in so much emotional pain.”

“I... didn’t even think of it in that way,” Corrin whispered. The more she thought about it, the more upset she became that someone would be so emotionally distraught that they think that they have to go to war all by themselves. Fingers interlaced with hers and gave a squeeze. 

“Do not be upset, Lady Corrin,” Kaze said with a soft smile. “There is nothing we can do if she refuses help from us, unfortunately.”

They eventually got to the main doors of the castle. One of the doors was completely intact except for the severely rusted lock on it. The other door was barely hanging on to the upper hinge. Boards of wood were missing from it and it looked as though it was covered in burn marks. Saizo, Kagero, Laslow and Peri were the first to go in to see if it was completely safe for their Lords to enter. Once they felt that it was, indeed, safe, everyone joined the four retainers in the huge entrance hall. The paintings on the walls were all burned or ripped to pieces except for two. At the end of the hall to the right was a painting of what looked to be the King, the Queen and their children who looked to be twins. The girl was cheerful looking with strawberry blonde hair and a book that, when examined closer, was a spell book. The boy looked serious with long, braided, black hair and in his hands was a child-sized axe which was still too big for the boy in the picture. 

On the opposite side of the hall was another painting. It looked to be the girl from the other painting but much older. She had the same strawberry blonde hair with just a touch pinker in a long braid that was thrown over her shoulder and an undercut with intricate symbols in it. The person beside her was much taller and he was clothed in an outfit sort of like Saizo and Kaze. He had long dark, red hair that was also braided and thrown over his shoulder. In both of the adult’s arms was a baby in a simple tunic and pants with a bright, beaming smile on his face. 

“I wonder why these two paintings are the only ones that haven’t been ruined,” Corrin hummed in thought as she dusted off the cobwebs in the corners of the frame. 

Leo strolled to the end of the hall and examined both pictures thoroughly. “From the paint being newer than what was left on the other pictures, it looks to be the last two ruling families.” Upon closer inspection of the picture on the left, Leo’s eyes widened and he quickly turned back towards the others of the group. “Hey! Saizo! Isn’t this the same scarf that the woman wears?”

Saizo disappeared from his place and reappeared in front of the painting that Leo had been motioning to. “Yes. That’s the one,” The ninja muttered. “I do not recognize the ninja wearing it though.”

“Neither do I,” Kaze, that had suddenly appeared by his brother’s side, said. “He must have been sent to Adonia when he was still really young.”

“Hm, normally ninjas aren’t sent anywhere until their training is mostly complete,” Kagero joined in. “He must have been a highly talented young boy, or he had a master come with him to finish teaching him.”

“So, do you think the woman is our hooded friend?” Leo asked. 

“Quite possibly,” Saizo mumbled, crossing his arms tightly over his chest. “That would explain why she would have that scarf.” His attention abruptly turned to the doors that he assumed lead into the throne room. “Someone’s in there.”

“Shall we then?” Ryoma said, coming up beside his loyal retainer. “Keep your weapons at the ready.”

The rest of the party nodded and readied their weapons. Saizo leapt to one door while Kaze leapt to the other one. They eyed each other, nodded then pushed open those heavy doors. The doors opened up into a huge room, bigger than both the Hoshido and Nohr throne rooms combined. There was a long, red carpet that started at the doorway and ran to the end of the room where there were steps leading up to the throne. The throne was made of a gorgeous marble along with the pillars that stretched up to the ceiling. The doors slammed closed behind the group, jolting a dark figure from their thoughts that had been standing at the bottom step leading to the throne. 

Turning around, the hooded figure growled and shook her head. “I thought I told you to leave!”

“Well, well, look who we found,” Jakob chuckled darkly. “So, this is where you’ve been hiding for the past few days?”

“Oh, were you worried about me?” The woman snarled. “Thanks for worrying I suppose.”

“I’m assuming you came here after you took out the soldiers that we were bound to run into on our own way here,” Ryoma said. “I thought you said if we got in your way, that you would do everything you could to get us to stop.”

The woman stayed silent, then sighed heavily. Her hands went into her hood, unclipped the clips that were keeping her hood and hair together so that it wouldn’t fall from its place. Then pushed the hood down and shook out hair which fell from the top of her head down to her waist in a messy braid. The undercut hadn’t been done in a while but one could clearly see the symbols still in the cut. Her face was no longer concealed either and her piercing blue eyes glared at the group. 

“So what?” She snarled. “You caught me on my bluff. Great for you. Now, can you please leave?”

“So, the mysterious woman finally reveals herself,” Saizo huffed with a scowl clear in his voice.

The woman rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, imitating Saizo’s stance. “And look who’s talking, the grump ass ninja.”

“I’m not a grump ass!” Saizo objected. 

“Oh no, she’s right! You’re totally a grump ass!” Oboro laughed with Orochi and Kagero giggling by her side. 

Hinoka’s eyes narrowed as she stared at the women, then grew big and pointed an index finger at her. “Hey! You’re the woman from the painting in the hallway! Whoa! Hold on! That would make you-!”

“Who the hell is making all that noise!” A booming male voice roared from somewhere beyond the throne room. 

The woman looked traumatized by the sudden voice and was frantically searching around for something. “You have to leave! All of you! Now! It is not safe for you here!”

“By the looks of it, you’re not safe here either,” Saizo growled, also looking around but way more calmly then she was. 

“I’m fine!” She screamed at the group, making small flares of fire surround her body just for a moment. “LEAVE! I’M TELLING YOU-!”

Her eyes darted towards the back of the throne room where there was a huge, single door that was now opening. From the doorway came a puff of dark smoke that was darker than a forest fire’s smoke. The smoke then darted away from the door and surrounded the ground of the room in a thin layer of itself. There was a slow stomping that became louder as it came closer. The woman turned fully towards the door, not taking her eye off it until an enormous figure that had to crouch down to get through the doorway. It slammed the door, the sound reverberating off the walls making them shake slightly. As the figure got closer, the details of it became clear. The man was built with so much muscle that he probably couldn’t do more than walk. His black hair had been unevenly cut to his shoulders with a small braid that ran down the side of his face to just pass his waist. He had scars all over the uncovered skin and on his back, he carried a giant axe and sword. Scanning the room, his eyes landed on the woman and the group behind her and he grinned a sinister grin. 

“Look what we have here,” He said with a low laugh. “It’s been a while, sister.” His eyes darted to the group behind her and then back to the woman. “And look, you’ve brought some friends.”

The woman whipped around, outstretched her hands towards the mixed group and suddenly, a force field type of magic entrapped them where they stood. The woman glared at the man with a sneer. “You cannot harm them!”

Corrin and a couple of others tried to break through the force field but with no luck. Corrin screamed out of frustration. “We can’t get out of this shield!”

“That’s so you don’t get in my way like you’ve been doing!” The woman barked her reply. 

“Now sister, is that any way to treat my guests?” The man hummed, trudging up the steps and standing in front of the throne but not sitting in it. 

“Don’t call me that!” She hissed. “I am not your sister! Not anymore!”

“Oh?” The man looked at her with a puzzling expression. “Then what shall I call you?”

“By my name!” The woman hissed. “You have no right to call me sister!”

“Alright, Kaleena.” The man said her name slow and clear like he was making fun of her. “Tell me, why have you come here? I haven’t seen you in ages.”

“It’s only been a few years, Ahriman.” Her hands went to her sides and slowly, a dagger descended down her sleeve and stopped just below where her fingertips ended so that the dagger was concealed to her brother. “And you know exactly why I came here.” She rushed towards him with incredible speed, completely jumping up and over the steps. The dagger was in full view now and slashed at him, aiming for his chest area. His arm came up and the armor on his forearm stopped the blade from hitting anything. “I’ve come to do what I should have done a long time ago!”

Kaleena planted her feet on the top step and again, aimed for his chest with her other dagger. Again, he blocked the blow with his other arm and they stayed in that position for a moment. Kaleena pushing against Ahriman with all her strength, meanwhile, he wasn’t even straining himself. Her brother gave a devilish smile and pushed his arms forward, throwing her back down the steps and towards the trapped group. The daggers slipped back up into her sleeve and outstretched both her arms towards him. From the palms of her hands, a beam of pure light shot out and hit Ahriman straight in the chest. He stumbled back, grabbing on to the throne’s arms for support, then reorganized himself and leapt down the steps. 

“You had your chance years ago, Kaleena,” The man growled, getting down low into a squat. “You cannot kill me anymore.”

“We’ll see about that.”

“This...,” Odin mumbled with his eyes close. “This is such an intense duel! The tension in the air can erupt the volcanoes of the world!”

Ahriman glanced over Kaleena’s shoulder and arched an eyebrow. Kaleena did the same and shook her head. 

“Of all the languages I speak, I have no idea what you just said,” Kaleena told him. 

“He said that this fight is so intense and amazing that he can’t contain his excitement,” Niles explained to them both. 

“Oh, uh alright.” Kaleena took this chance to toss a couple of daggers in Ahriman’s direction, which he easily deflected.

“Heh, heh. It’ll take more than a simple distraction like that to catch me off guard, Kaleena,” The man laughed. 

She shook her head with a shrug. “It was worth a try.” 

Kaleena snapped her fingers and from thin air popped out a floating gray blob that almost looked like clay. It floated just above her palm. Her other hand hovered over it then in a fluid motion, reached her hand out to her side and the clay blob stretched with it. It glowed a pale, yellow and when it dimmed, in place of the gray clay was a shiny, sharp killer’s sword. She grasped it in one hand and readied her stance. 

“That blade will do nothing to me.”

“Are you sure about that?” Kaleena charged towards him, prodding and slashing him with quick speed then dashed away but kept her blade at the ready. 

Ahriman looked down at his armor that had blocked the blows and was surprised to see scratches and dents where his sister’s blade had met him. There was a popping of a string and three arrows came straight at him. Two barely pierced the armor, and the other went straight through to his flesh. He hissed at the slight pain it caused. He ripped the arrows out of place, broke them and tossed the pieces to the ground. Glaring at his sister, he found that her sword had transformed into a yumi, and now it was changing back into the sword she had used previously. 

“Nice to see that you aren’t afraid to hit me now,” Ahriman jested. “It’ll make this more fun.”

Kaleena went at it again. Slashing and prodding at her younger, yet enormous sibling. She was too fast for him to hit or even get a hold of. That was the advantage she had over him. Of course she had her magic, but it was easier on her to exhaust him first with weapons and actual fighting, then hit him with everything she had on the magic front when the time had come to deal the final blow. However, she had to be careful where she placed her feet, where she landed, where she jumped, and where she went in for the attack. If something wasn’t perfect, he only needed a few hits from his huge fists and she would be done for. And that tiny mistake eventually came and Kaleena thought she was done for when she felt him grab on to her.

But that thing that he grabbed was none other than the scarf around her neck. 

Kaleena’s eyes grew dark and she stared up into her brother’s as if she could see directly into his soul. She positioned her blade just under his wrist and with a snarling voice, said, “Get your nasty hands off his scarf!” And tore the blade completely through his wrist. 

He staggered as far back as he could away from her. Howling in pain and throwing choice curses at her here and there when he could. The hand that had been attached to the scarf fell to the floor with a “fumph” and twitched until it realized that it wasn’t attached to an arm and fell limp. Kaleena’s face deadpanned as she flicked her sword to the side, splattering blood all over the floor. 

“I wouldn’t be too confident about that if I was you!” Azura yelled from within the force field. 

Kaleena’s eyes darted to meet her gaze, then shifted back to stare at her brother who was still screaming in pain. 

“Why do you say that, Azura?” Takumi asked in a whisper. 

Azura looked over at Ahriman with a slight shiver making its way down her spine. “I have a feeling... that something really bad is about to make itself known.”

Ahriman’s screaming eventually died down. His panting dwindled to mere deep breathes as he reorganized himself. Then, that familiar sinister grin appeared on his lips and he started to laugh. Low and slow at first, but then it became loud, almost evil sounding. Kaleena cocked her head to the side in confusion. She had just sliced off his hand. Now he couldn’t use his great axe. Why the hell was he laughing?

“I applaud you, Kaleena. You really got me good there,” He said, motioning to his handless arm. “But like you, I also have some tricks up my sleeve.”

It was quiet for a moment. Ahriman making it obvious that he was in complete concentration. They all watched him for those few moments. Then, with a grunt, a whole new hand just slid out from his arm, dripping in clear and light pink fluids.

“Oh my divine dragons,” Corrin gasped. 

“This cannot be,” A few other whispered amongst themselves, making comments like “disgusting,” or “what the hell just happened?”

It was Kaleena’s turn to stagger back. Her empty hand slowly making its way to hover over her opened mouth. Her expression showed just how horrified she was at the sight of her brother just suddenly growing a brand new hand. 

“You... what have you become?” Kaleena asked in a scratchy, unbelieving voice. 

“I am... I am immortal, dear Kaleena,” Ahriman said. “I can regenerate my limbs when need be. I can live without food or drink for weeks. Months. Even years. I have become immortal!”

“Bullshit!” Kaleena barked and charged at him again with so much ferocity that it was hard for him and the others to keep up with her actions. “Not even the divine dragons are immortal! What kind of monster have you become?! Tell me! TELL ME AHRIMAN!”

In one swift action, Ahriman pulled his great axe out from on his back and lashed out at his sister. Thankfully, she had been quick enough to dodge the full blow. The blade of the axe just scraped her upper arm. The laceration stung and she backed away in order to recompose herself. 

“You’re losing your touch, Kaleena,” Ahriman teased, swinging his axe side to side. “Or did seeing your brother grow a new hand traumatize you that much?”

Kaleena examined the cut on her arm, closing her eyes tightly after doing so. Her free hand formed a tight fist and the hand that held the sword eventually turned white with how tightly she was holding on to it. “That is enough!” She screamed. Her voice echoing throughout the room. “This ends now, Ahriman!”

The sword transformed back into a gray blob and vanished. Kaleena threw her hands up to her sides. Shoulder height. The room itself started to shake. The dark smoke that covered the flooring started to glow and burn a bright red color. Kaleena’s eyes seemed to glow a bright, ice blue. As she was about to unleash her spell, something struck her in the chest, making her lose the concentration and dropping her spell. She looked at her chest. Nothing had hit her. Then, the pang came again. She clutched at her chest with a hand and dropped to her knees. Her eyes bulging out of her head. It felt like something was being sucked out of her. Her hand shook and her breathing became erratic. 

“W-what’s... ha-happening...?” She groaned. Her knuckles turning white from how tightly she was clutching her chest. 

Ahriman laughed hysterically. The walls shaking with each deep laugh of his. “Are you tired already, Kaleena? That’s not like you.”

“What’s happening to her?” Corrin asked the group, not taking her eyes off of Kaleena. “She looks like she’s about to dropped dead at any moment.”

“Tch,” Ahriman grunted. “It’ll take a lot more than that to kill my sister, but... this is certainly a sight.”

“What exactly did you do?!” Corrin barked at him.

“Corrin...,” Kaze whispered, taking a hold of her arm. “Please calm down.”

“What did you do?!” Corrin asked again. Her face becoming flushed out of anger and frustration. 

Ahriman grinned and seemed more than happy to give her the satisfaction of what was happening to his sister. “I put a simple... poison on my blades.”

“Poison?” Ryoma said with a frown. 

“It’s a poison I made specifically for my dear sister over there,” He told the group. “It won’t kill her. Divine dragons no, it definitely won’t kill her. What it does it... suck her magic affinity and energy out of her. That’s all.”

“D-do you... do you n-not b-believe in yourself t-to... to kill me as I am, A-Ahriman?” Kaleena mocked with a slight, painful laugh. 

Ahriman frowned and stormed over to where she kneeled, still clutching at her chest and breathing irregularly. He bent down and with one hand, grabbed on to her face and lifted her up off the ground into the air. She struggled against the hand that covered her face and screamed when it started to squeeze her head in. 

“I do not think you are in any position to be mocking me, Kaleena.” He threw his arm that held Kaleena’s face over his shoulder and slammed her in to the ground so harshly that the stone the floor was made of cracked and jutted upward out of the ground. His hand left her face and he grinned, watching her body twitch and jolt in order to keep itself conscious. 

By doing this however, the spell cast around the Nohrians and Hoshidans disappeared. Although, he didn’t seem to notice. Blood started to pool in the middle of the floor where Kaleena lay. It seeped into the cracks of the floor, and stained the stone and dirt. Ahriman put his foot on her head and started to put his weight onto her. 

“It was nice having this family reunion,” Ahriman said. “Say hello to your husband and child for me-.”

“Archers, fire!”

Ahriman’s foot came off her head once the arrows started hitting his back. It was the same with him as it was with the soldiers. They could not penetrate his armor at all. But it was a good distraction. When he turned to face the Nohrians and Hoshido, Ryoma ordered;

“Saizo! Get her!”

“Yes, Lord Ryoma.” Saizo appeared next to Kaleena. With as much care and gentleness as Saizo could muster up, he turned her over on to her back, scooped her up in his arms and darted away from Ahriman as quickly as possible. Once far enough away, he knelt down to examine her. Bruises started to form all across her body. There were rips and tears in her clothing that were not covered by her armor. Her legs and torso were completely torn up, speeding up the bleeding that now seeped on to Saizo’s hands and body. But at least she was alive. 

“We need to get out of here!’ Xander yelled, throwing the doors to the entrance hall open. “Quickly! He won’t be able to catch us!”

Everyone got out of the throne room as fast as they could with the archers in the back, trying to keep Ahriman distracted. However, it didn’t seem like he was going to pursue them. Once the doors shut in front of the archers, they started to catch up to the rest of the group. 

Hinoka whistled for her Pegasus which swooped down and landed only a bit away from the horses that were waiting loyally for their riders. 

“Saizo! Put her on Dandy! I’ll fly her back to Hoshido! It’ll be quicker!”

“Good idea!” Ryoma said. “Sakura! Get on with Subaki and fly back with them! They’ll need every healer available to them!”

“Elise and I will ride hard back to Hoshido so she can get there in time to help,” Xander said, getting on his horse. 

“Right!” Elise nodded confidently, speeding off with Xander back to Hoshido. 

“Beruka and I can also fly two people back to help,” Camilla said, calling for her wyvern. 

“Saizo, go with them!” Ryoma ordered. The ninja, who was carefully placing Kaleena in between Hinoka’s legs froze for a moment. Then Ryoma added, “I’m counting on you to keep Kaleena and everyone else safe.”

“Yes, Lord Ryoma,” Saizo bowed his head slightly and chose Camilla to fly with. 

“Niles, you take flight as well,” Xander instructed. 

“Yes, my Lord,” Niles hopped on behind Beruka and all of the fliers took off towards Hoshido at high speeds. 

“I hope... I hope they will make it in time,” Corrin whispered, clinging on to Kaze’s arm. 

“We needn’t worry, Corrin,” Leo said. “From what I saw, it’ll take more than that to kill that woman.”


End file.
